Multiplied with that distance and the AI's acuity factor, the mic volume determines the alert level being generated. The effect tapers off with distance in a fashion similar to s_mindistance (full effect below this radius) and s_maxdistance (fully ignored beyond that radius), reasonable defaults might be min 4 / max 16 measuring with the radius of a speaker in DarkRadiant. Based on the loudness it captures that call, the same signal emitted by sound sources to alert AI is propagated from the player's view origin. The game reads this volume at an interval balanced between accuracy and performance (eg: 0.5 seconds).
This would obviously require engine changes: The engine needs to learn how to access the default microphone device from the sound system, enough translate the volume into a to 0 - 1 float.
I'll discuss both uses below, first let's go into some technical aspects. whereas oppositely you could use your voice to distract them to your location and move past. Imagine if any noise you made IRL risked alerting nearby guards. Last night it clicked with me how perfectly this mechanic would fit into TDM with our AI and gameplay. The player had to stay silent else they'd be in trouble. They had a mechanic where the engine accessed the player's microphone to read the volume: If you made too much noise, monsters would hear you and come after you. The idea is partly inspired from some horror games I watched Youtubers play a while back. That being said, the idea occurred to me yesterday and I've been excited thinking about how it could work, it actually kept me up last night and I'm getting this off my chest to hear some feedback so I can fall asleep more easily tonight as the person suggesting it I don't believe it should ever be enabled by default due to how it would alter the gameplay, only offered as an extra component for players who want the mechanic. Lastly this is intended solely as an OPTION. It would be a major change that takes time to test, so even if it does happen it would likely be next year at earliest (TDM 2.11 or later). Also this post does NOT imply we have developers willing to work on it, if no one in the team considers it an effort worth investing time in I'm not going to beg. At the moment I'm just opening this thread for debate: If the idea isn't shot down as absurd and we agree it's possible to consider, I may proceed with a bug tracker entry otherwise forget I said anything.
There's a bit to unpack here, but I'll ask that you please read this post and my motivation before giving a verdict.